Waterbabies

We're having a mini heat wave this weekend in Seattle. It's normal by the account of some people we know, but it went from the 50's and raining on Monday to 80's and 90's yesterday and today. In our area, March goes in like a lion and out like a lion, and April showers bring May showers. Summer typically doesn't start until July 5th, so the joke goes.

Shawn and I had pre planned weeks ago to take Friday off early from work to sneak to a movie before picking Ian up from school. It was a great plan, which we might do on a regular basis (maybe live on the edge and make it a quarterly thing). We changed our plans to see Speed Racer, because it received horrible reviews, and decided on Narnia: Prince Caspian, instead. Good choice. It was better than the book, in my opinion. Shawn said "what book?". He had no idea who C.S. Lewis was or that the Narnia movies were based on books. His claim to fame is that he got all the way through school having only been required to read one book... Lord of the Flies. I keep telling him he's missed out on a lot by slipping through the cracks in school...and then he shows me his paystub and it shuts me up every time.

So back to my original point... we were expecting a beautiful weekend and had no idea how to spend it. After our movie, we picked Ian up from school and headed off to our club to swim. He didn't have a swimming lesson (that's tomorrow), but we wanted to get him in the water again, just to practice. He had tons of fun, but I think he was confused that I was in the water too, and was reluctant to come to me or let me hold him at first. He has grown to trust Shawn in the water, and that's fine with me. Eventually, he wrapped his arms around my neck and let me hold him in the water for a while. After about 30 minutes, he was ready to get out. We ate at the club's restaurant, which looks out over the tennis courts and he was mesmerized by kids in their lessons. His eyes were glued to yellow tennis balls flying through the air. Maybe that's another sport to try in a few years. Who knows. We ordered him a meal off the kids menu, and out came a huge platter of grilled chicken, wild rice, and green beans... He ate every bite. Swimming seems to really make him hungry.

On the way home, Shawn took a hard left turn suddenly into the Dairy Queen parking lot and we undid that nice, healthy dinner by ordering Ian his first ice cream cone. I, once again, was beating myself up for not having my camera at the ready... It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He was a mess of soft serve in seconds and ate the entire thing, cone and all. Ice cream lover? He's definitely a Mrzena...and a Waters. No doubt that he's our child.

He slept in late this morning and by the time he woke at 9 and ate breakfast, it was almost 80 degrees already. We spent the better part of the morning playing in the backyard and then, after Shawn left to run errands (aka Dad's alone time), we spent another hour relaxing on the lounge chairs and playing with rocks. Ian entertained himself so well that I was able to read 2 magazines and went in and out of the house several times without a panic attack about where I disappeared to.

After he went down for his nap, Polli and I relaxed outside more and even took a brief nap. This may all sound mundane and boring to most people, but I rarely, if ever, relax...and almost never EVER take naps. It's not often that I do things for myself outside the occasional new pair of jeans or shoes... so getting time to myself is a big deal. It actually felt good to relax and I didn't feel my usual guilt that I could be doing something productive with my time.

After nap and lunch, Shawn came home and we headed out to the outlet mall near our house to buy Ian some much needed shorts. I realized this morning that he only had one pair and that wasn't going to last long if our nice weather makes a comeback. It got well into the 90's today, but will be about 15 degrees cooler tomorrow and then back into the 60's by Monday. Hopefully we'll have nice weather again next weekend.

While out and about, we picked up a blow up swimming pool for Ian and Polli. As you'll see from the pictures below, it was a real hit for both of them. That water is straight from the hose and freezing...since our water supply is from a glacial aquifer, it's not only really clean but really REALLY cold. Neither of them seemed to care, though.

We have a busy week ahead of us: Tomorrow, Ian has swimming lesson #3. Monday, we have a meeting with the Early Intervention coordinator and the woman who heads up the speech therapy program we chose for Ian. It's only the millionth step in the process to getting his therapy going... Hopefully next up is an actual appointment with a therapist. Wednesday is Shawn's birthday, and then Thursday is our 6 month post placement visit with our social worker, which is required by the CCAA. Essentially, China wants proof that we're taking good care of Ian. For this event, Polli will be going to daycamp since last time, she almost gave the woman, deciding our fate as parents, a bloody nose. We told her that Polli just loves to give kisses, but I don't think she saw the humor.

Here are just a few of the 214 pictures I took today alone... and it's only Saturday!

Ian and Polli chatting on the lounge chairs

Tossing back cold ones on the patio...ah, this is the life!


Sharing a cheese stick.

Hanging out with Buddha

I don't know that he knew what this big thing was or why he was in his bathing trunks... He does look a little worried now that I see the pictures.

Once he got used to the cold water, it wasn't so bad after all.

They both had fun splashing around... Polli enjoyed it almost as much as Ian. Because her breed doesn't handle heat well, we had to keep her cooled off somehow.

Almost an hour later and still having fun. No need for a bath tonight!

Rock hunting in the pool. Polli wanted to reach in with her mouth and pick them up but never got the nerve. Mostly, she just batted them around with her paws.

Time to settle down for book time. This seems like a comfy position...

...or this

...Or maybe this.

Notice the "road rash" he came home with on Friday. Imagine my shock when I took his shirt off. No one mentioned it at school. He also had the same mark BEHIND his left ear. You can imagine that I'll have some questions for them on Monday.